and i'm a president obama supporter. i want my vote to count and make sure that it's here, and i'm a nurse, and don't know my schedule yet. >> reporter: this man will be poll watching on election today, moved to fairfax county two years ago and said it's swing state status that was the motivation. >> it was a battleground state. it's a very important election i think. that's why i wanted to be sure i got here. >> reporter: in-person voting is under way, election officials have also sent out their first big batch of requests for mail-in or e-mail absentee ballots. the requests so far are slightly below the historic levels of 2008. but because the process is starting earlier, most expect to eventually come close to or match 2008 in absentee voting. >> i expect us to increase a little bit. we did just shy of 30,000 absentee voters in 2008. with -- and i expect we'll do just above that this year. >> reporter: fairfax county's registrar said absentee voting is growing in large part because campaigns are urging it. >> we expec